Music that melts in your mind . . . science as nature didn't intend

We have just returned from Tasmania. A subsequent examination of our map of Tassie indicates that we covered 1,200 km, on our way through 4 performances in 3 busy, fabulous days. The tour was predictably exhausting and superb. If there was any doubt that the tour was going to be interesting, it was quashed when our first flight had to taxi back to the terminal (and at break-neck speed) to let an ill passenger off the plane. If we thought that it might not be cold, that was put to rest as a sharp breeze sliced its way off the ocean at Cape Grim.

We’ve been to Burnie nearly every year for more than 10 years, so it was great to catch up with Ben and Drew and the nice people at the Burnie Arts and Function Centre and Merv and Del at Glen Osborne House too.

We raced to Hobart to share the stage at The Grand Poobah with Warning Will Robinson, which was a great night. Thumbs up to Juniper and Manu and WWR. We also enjoyed some very fine late night souvlakia.

CSIRO has an archive of air dating back to 1978. Researchers from around the globe can ask to use very small samples in their work, but of course there is a limited supply of any particular year. Limited because the air is different now, because atmospheric and geologic processes – and us - are constantly changing it.

So if you want some “standard” air, where does it come from? Tasmania, specifically Cape Grim on the north-west coast. Most of the winds at Cape Grim arrive from Antarctica and the Indian Ocean, without passing over any other major land masses. This makes them a standard or “average” global air source.

It’s also a completely beautiful and wild part of the world and we’re utterly stoked to be going there.

We’re not quite sure why we chose to visit a wind-swept coast of north-western Tasmania in June, but we urge you to tune in to our web-streamed gig on Tuesday 10 June to see how we fare. The gig will start some time between 12 noon and 2pm (AEST), depending on agreeable technology, so check our Twitter feed on the day for updates and the url.